Circular knitting machines produce tubular knitted fabric from yarns fed to knitting needles carried by a rotating needle cylinder. Typically, there are multiple stationary yarn feeding mechanisms around the periphery of the needle cylinder for feeding yarns to the needles as the cylinder rotates and the needles move past each yarn feeding mechanism.
For various and sundry reasons, it is desirable to provide multiple yarns having different characteristics at each of the multiple yarn feeding mechanisms and to change the particular yarn being fed to the needles from time-to-time. Accordingly, such yarn feeding mechanisms have heretofore been developed with a plurality of yarn feed fingers movable between operative and inoperative positions and each carrying a different yarn. A selection device is included and selectively moves the plurality of yarn feed fingers between the operative and inoperative positions in accordance with a predetermined pattern.
Such prior yarn feeding mechanisms have heretofore included yarn cutting means for cutting the yarns whose yarn feed fingers are moved to the inoperative positions and for capturing and holding the free ends thereof until such yarn feed fingers are moved to the operative positions and the yarns are again knit into the fabric being formed. Heretofore, the yarn changing process has resulted in waste lengths of yarn cut from the yarns being changed. Such waste lengths of yarn must be disposed of and prior yarn changing mechanisms have included suction nozzles and conduits for such waste disposal. One example of such a yarn changing mechanism is disclosed in Japanese patent application Ser. No. 175,243/89, filed Jul. 5, 1989 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 40,848/91).
The generation of the waste lengths of yarn and the requisite disposed thereof is undesirable and has been a substantial disadvantage and deficiency of prior yarn changing mechanisms.